Holi!

Now my title may throw you and you may be thinking, Jennifer that is not how you spell holy. Well, actually it is if you are talking about Holi, the festival of colors. At the end of March each year the Utah Temple holds a gigantic festival called Holi to usher in the coming spring. Find out more about the story of this festival here.

Our journey began when one of our friends, Sri Hari asked us to go down to this festival as performers. I was really excited by this opportunity to be able to sing for so many people. Here is a taste of our performance. It is estimated that about 25,000 people came this year and over 50,000 bags of color were sold.

We had an amazing time performing and playing with all the devotees and spectators. You can see some of the best photos I took here. The file sizes are really big so I don't plan to post the photos again here. I'll let the photos speak for themselves as they are very colorful and tell a good story. I hope you enjoy and leave comments if you like. Here is a shot that one of the professional photographer's got of Ashton running through all the sage brush.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

News Years Day Japathon!

January 1, 2009 marked the annual Boise Temple Japathon. As in the past, on this day we collectively try to chant one name of Krsna for each resident in the state of Idaho. With the Idaho population at about 1.5 million we exceeded this goal by chanting 1.6 million names of the Lord!

The day started very early at 4:00 AM when we went to the temple to join the other devotees in starting the new year by remembering God. We sang, dance, and chanted until 7:30 AM and then went home for some rest. We returned at about 12:30 PM to join the Japathon all ready in full swing. We were so excited to participate as a family. We all really enjoyed the simple pleasure of chanting most of the day. The boys really got into it and there was friendly competition toward the end to see who could chant the most. Steven chanted the most out of the four of us coming in at 48 rounds (that is 108 beads x 48 rounds = 5,184 names of the Lord). I came in at 42 rounds, Thaddaeus came in at 16 rounds and Ashton chanted 8 rounds! Chanting is the back bone of our meditative spiritual practice. This event allows families and our community to come together and praise God as a collective whole. It has quickly become my favorite event of the entire year!

Here are some shots from the event. Ashton concentraiting!

Steven caught me taking a picture of him chanting and started laughing. It was too funny not to post!

My best friend Amrta chanting. I love the way she chants!

Thad and Ian team chanting. Ian really did a nice job encouraging the boys to chant and made it alot of fun! Thanks Ian!

Thad chanting with Radika.

Steven and I chanting together. Amrta took this picture for me.

Laura letting us know she just finished round 4! Way to go!

Ashton and I at the end of Japathon! Getting ready to sing and dance!

Here is a crowd shot at the end of Japathon. We all chanted from 10 AM to 6 PM! It was so much fun!

Diwali ~ Celebration of Light!

On Tuesday we celebrated Diwali at our Temple. You may be asking what is Diwali? Diwali is the celebration of light and the beginning of the Hindu New Year. What is the significance of lighting a lamp? There is a logical answer to this question. It is through the light that the beauty of this world is revealed or experienced. Most civilizations of the world recognize the importance of light as a gift of God. It has always been a symbol of whatever is positive in our world of experience.

To Vaishnavas, darkness represents ignorance, and light is a metaphor for knowledge. Therefore, lighting a lamp symbolizes the destruction, through knowledge, of all negative forces- wickedness, violence, lust, anger, envy, greed, bigotry, fear, injustice, oppression and suffering, etc.

Here are the highlights from our celebration in Boise...

We each got to light a candle and it was placed on the altar. As you can see all the candle light was beautiful!

Here is Ian playing the Mrdanga. I love his playing he does an amazing job of getting everyone excited to sing and dance!

Here is Emily before her dance with her sister and the play.

Here is Laura before the dance and the play. They both look so beautiful! Wait till you see their dance!
Steven clapping along to the music.

My sweet boys as we waited for the dance to begin.

Emily and Laura did their first performance together! It was so nice to see them work together and pull off such a nice dance. Emily taught Laura the entire dance her self.

My best friend Amrta had a large roll in the play and did an amazing job! The play was about staying devoted to your husband even in hard times or seperation. The entire cast did an amazing job! This was the first dramatic play our Temple has put on. Normally the plays are comedies. Here are some candid shots of my wonderful friend!

We had a really nice time at the celebration. The boys want to participate in the next play so we'll see if we can make that happen. Happy Diwali!

Janmastami Festival

Our local temple held a grand Janmastami Festival, to celebrate the appearance day of Krishna. It was filled with many events, fun, and food. Here are the highlights...

The House of 10,000 flowers was unveiled first and was totally breathtaking. The pictures didn't do it justice. All the caring hands that went in to making all the fresh flower garlands really did an amazing job. There were so many flowers that I couldn't fit them into one picture.

Steven and I worked on the giant diorama at the base of the alter. Steven laid actual sod down to create the base and we recreated the pastimes of Krishna in miniature. It was a fun service and allowed us to put on our creative hats to figure out how to depict some of these stories.

The kids joined in the fun by participating in a fashion/costume show, dances and plays. I got to help get not only my boys ready but my best friend's youngest son and daughters as well. It was fun transforming them into their different roles. Here are some of the shots I got of them.

Thad & Ashton as Balarama & Krishna

Hal as Bhima

Laura as Hidimba the Deamon

Emily as a Bharata Natyam Dancer

The children really enjoyed the activities. I will post Emily's dance video as you will see they are very expressive, not only with body positioning but their hands and facial expressions.

Here are some pictures from the play that was put on by the kids and a few fun loving adults.

We did lots of singing and dancing! You can see from the pictures below there was music both inside and out!

There were hundreds of people through out the evening during this celebration which is by far the biggest we have ever attended. Here are some of the pictures from various points in the evening.

Thank you Boise Hare Krishna Temple for making this event possible!